Using the intergenerational solidarity framework to understand the grandparent-grandchild relationship: a scoping review.

Intergenerational interactions and exchange are major components of grandparenting, and the present study sought to examine how the intergenerational solidarity framework has been used to investigate grandparenting practices across the lifespan and in different cultures. This framework is widely used across cultures and provides a basis to discuss the future of grandparenting research, considering cultural intermingling and changes in society. Following PRISMA-ScR guidelines, we searched three databases (PsycInfo, PubMed, and Web of Science). Finally, 42 empirical studies that met the inclusion criteria were included in this scoping review. They were published between 1991 and 2020 and assessed intergenerational solidarity between grandparents and their grandchildren. Our findings show that research on grandparenting based on the intergenerational solidarity framework has increased in the last 30 years, and that this model provides a comprehensive approach to studying grandparenting across the lifespan in different cultures. The present study identified cross-cultural differences in the prevalence of the types of intergenerational solidarity. Affectual solidarity was shown to be the most studied dimension of intergenerational solidarity in North America, Europe and Israel, while normative solidarity was the most represented in Asian studies. The only Australian study investigated affectual and functional solidarity. This model is thus suitable for studying grandparenting, but further studies are needed to investigate changes in intergenerational solidarity between grandparents and their grandchildren at different stages of development and account for cultural specificities.

The impact of street clothes among caregivers on residents with dementia in special care units: The STRECLO study.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To examine the impact of caregivers' street clothes on people living in special care units (SCUs). We hypothesised that caregivers wearing street clothes would improve residents' relationships with other residents and caregivers and, as a consequence, would improve their quality of life. BACKGROUND: Environmental factors have been recognised as important elements in the care of people with dementia. Among these factors, the importance of the caregivers' appearance and more particularly their street clothes has been raised. DESIGN: The Street Clothes study (STRECLO) was designed as a multicentre crossover observational study. METHOD: This study was conducted in two volunteer nursing homes. It involved videotaping residents (N = 24) over a 6-month period: caregivers wore uniform and then street clothes for two consecutive three-month periods. Three outcome measures were observed as follows: (a) behaviours of residents, (b) contents of conversations and (c) proximal interactions between residents and caregivers. The STROBE checklist was used to ensure quality reporting during this observational study. RESULTS: When caregivers wore street clothes, we observed the following: (a) greater solicitation and less anxiety in residents, (b) content of conversations between residents and caregivers included more personal and less health information, and (c) more proximal interaction between caregivers and residents. CONCLUSION: To our knowledge, this is the first study which investigated the long-term effects on residents of SCU caregivers wearing street clothes. Our study demonstrated the potential benefit of not wearing uniform on the quality of life of institutionalised people with dementia. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Given the budgetary constraints faced by nursing homes, wearing street clothes for caregivers could be readily applied to clinical practice and represents a promising way to increase the quality of life of dementia residents and their families.

Causality Orientations and Supportive/Controlled Environment: Understanding Their Influence on Basic Needs, Motivation for Health and Emotions in French Hospitalized Older Adults.

OBJECTIVES: From a self-determination theory perspective, the purpose of this cross sectional study was to better understand how to motivate hospitalized older adults' behaviors and test an integrative model of the role of causality orientations and a supportive/controlled environment on basic need satisfaction, motivation for health oriented physical activity, positive and negative affective states, depressive symptoms, apathy, and boredom. METHODS: Older adults (N = 146; Mage = 81.27 years, SD = 7.75, 74.7% female) in French hospital units completed self-report questionnaires and socio-demographic data were also collected. RESULTS: Partial least squares path modeling results showed that participants' autonomy orientation positively associated with the perception of a supportive environment was related to need satisfaction, autonomous motivation for health-oriented physical activity, and high scores on positive affective states. Conversely, participants' impersonal orientation positively associated with the perception of a controlled environment was related to undermining need satisfaction, controlled motivation for health-oriented physical activity, and amotivation, and high scores on both negative affective states, and boredom. CONCLUSION: The present results indicate that taking into account personality factors in hospital units can be useful and health professionals should take an interest both in the patients' causality orientations and the supportive nature of the environment in order to understand better how to motivate patients' behaviors. The present study points to the need to focus on all motivational dynamics which allow patients' need satisfaction.

Intergenerational programs: What can school-age children and older people expect from them? A systematic review.

Over the past 40 years, there has been a growing trend for intergenerational initiatives worldwide. Intergenerational programs (IGPs) aim to facilitate cooperation and exchange among different age groups. While most studies highlight the benefits for each generation, the programs and study designs vary widely. We conducted a systematic review of the scientific literature between 2005 and 2015 to: (1) characterize and define the IGPs studied and (2) identify the benefits for school-age children and older people aged 60 years or over. First, 53 articles with defined keywords were collected from online databases. Then, using inclusion and exclusion criteria, 11 articles were selected. These were classified according to methodological quality and were analyzed one by one. The content of the programs varied: three involved artistic activities, three educational activities, one health, three open-ended activities, and one was organized around a citizen's project. Concerning the benefits of IGPs for children and older adults, some studies highlighted significant differences in positive attitudes, behaviors, confidence, and competence for the children, and significant differences in mental and physical health, and quality of life for older adults. However, it should be noted that those benefits are not systematic. Our findings are discussed in the light of the meaningfulness of the activities and the role of IGPs, organization of the program, and participants' knowledge of the other generation. Future studies may wish to consider searching for additional variables to further refine our understanding of the benefits for participants.

Spirituality, social support, and flexibility among older adults: a five-year longitudinal study.

ABSTRACTObjectives:The objectives of the study were to examine the trajectory of spirituality among older adults, to investigate the roles of gender and religion on the developmental trajectory of spirituality, and to explore whether the linear growth of spirituality accelerated or decelerated at time points at which the participants reported high scores of social support and flexibility. DESIGN: A five-year longitudinal study. SETTING: The research used data from a longitudinal study, which follows a non-institutionalized older adults cohort of residents from France. The data used in this paper were collected at three time points (T1: 2007; T2: 2009; T3: 2012). PARTICIPANTS: A total of 567 participants were included in the analysis (59.44% female; Mage = 75.90, SD = 5.12). MEASUREMENTS: Multilevel growth curve analysis was used measuring spirituality, satisfaction with social support, and flexibility. RESULTS: The results indicated the following: (1) stability of spirituality over time, (2) older women reported higher levels of spirituality than older men, and those who had a religion reported higher scores of spirituality than their counterparts who had no religion (these effects were strong and clinically meaningful), (3) older adults who reported higher levels of social support and flexibility also reported higher levels of spirituality, and (4) the slope of spirituality seemed to accelerate at time points at which participants also had higher levels of social support and flexibility (these effects were rather small but of theoretical interest). CONCLUSION: The results of the present study help to improve the understanding of the potential benefit of encouraging the spiritual aspects of life.

Longitudinal Patterns of Stability and Change in Tenacious Goal Pursuit and Flexible Goal Adjustment among Older People over a 9-Year Period.

Using the dual-process model of assimilative-tenacity (TGP) and accommodative-flexibility (FGA), the study aims to identify trajectories of TGP and FGA over five time points within a 9-year period, explore the relationships between the trajectories of TGP and FGA, and explore if participants from distinct TGP and FGA trajectories differed in indicators of well-being and depression. Latent class growth analysis was used in a five-wave longitudinal design among an older population of 747 participants over 65 years. Results highlight (1) emergence of four trajectories for flexibility (low and increasing, moderate and increasing, moderately high and stable, and high and stable trajectories) and three trajectories for tenacity (low and stable, moderate and stable, and high and decreasing trajectories), (2) that older people belonging to particular trajectories of FGA are not more likely to belong to particular trajectories of TGP, and (3) that participants from the high and decreasing TGP and high or moderately high and stable FGA trajectories were characterized by high score of perceived health, satisfaction with life, and self-esteem and low score of depression moods. These results highlight that the heterogeneity in longitudinal TGP and FGA scores throughout the life span needs to be accounted for in future research.

Aging, Functional Learning, and Inhibition.

BACKGROUND/STUDY CONTEXT: The study compared the learning performance of younger and older adults in situations differing in the number of cues that could be relied on for predicting the value of a criterion. Two hypotheses were tested: one based on the assumption that the greater the inhibition effort needed in the task, the greater the difference between younger and older participants, and the other based on the fact that the context in which inhibition occurs plays a role, and consequently that the level of difficulty of the four learning conditions can be better predicted from the number of possible sets of valid cues. METHODS: A total of 240 adults (18-90 years old) had to learn to predict the amount of drink delivered by a drink dispenser on the basis of four cues (the height of four vertical bars). The participants were randomly distributed between four experimental conditions, one valid cue, two valid cues, three valid cues, and all valid cues. The measures that were calculated for each participant under each condition included the squared mean differences between judgment and criterion as an index of performance, and cue utilizations as a test of both the learning of the strength of direct linear relationships and of inhibition. RESULTS: The results validated the hypothesis that the level of difficulty of the four learning conditions can be better predicted from the number of possible sets of valid cues. In all conditions and in each age group, cue utilizations were direct in the first block with no feedback. Older adults discounted the nonpertinent cues as well as younger adults, whereas participants aged over 76 only succeeded under the least demanding conditions. The presence of nonpertinent cues affected the learning of direct cues, even among the younger participants. CONCLUSION: This study shows that older adults' ability to detect (and use) valid cues in an environment that contains both valid and invalid cues is relatively well preserved. It also shows that the mere presence of invalid cues can affect the learning of direct cues, which constitutes a new result in functional learning. Future research conducted in cognitive aging should examine the role of invalid cues in functional learning.

To what extent does the existence of functional relations in a learning setting change the pattern of differences between younger and older adults' performances?

UNLABELLED: BACKGROUND/STUDY CONTEXT: The study directly compared the learning performance of younger and older participants in two situations, one in which they had the possibility of detecting functional relations in the learning setting, and one in which they did not. Functional relations were defined as functional correspondences that could be established between abstract properties extracted from the sets of stimulus items and an abstract property extracted from the set of response items. METHODS: A total of 112 adults (18-90 years old) had to learn to predict the values of a numerical variable (the criterion) on the basis of two words (a plant and an animal) as cues. Five plants and five animals were graded according to size. The plant × animal design was orthogonal. The values of the criterion were obtained using an additive, linear scheme under the functional relations condition, and using random associations under the zero relations condition. RESULTS: The hypothesis was well supported by the data. In the absence of functional relations, the difference between younger and older participants' performances was shown to be practically as great as it could be in the experimental situation that was chosen. When functional relations were present, age differences were significantly reduced, to the extent that the performance of the older participants was almost as good as that achieved by the younger group. CONCLUSION: The existence of functional relations in a learning setting considerably changes the pattern of differences between younger and older adults' performance. In both the absence and the presence of functional relations, older and younger participants spontaneously approached the learning task in a functional spirit, and conceived a priori the cues and the criterion as directly related. Future studies should examine the way in which participants approach learning tasks, and the characteristics of the tasks that determine participants' spontaneous learning attitudes.